The NECE Focus Group on the Council of Europe's Reference Framework on Competences for a Democratic Culture has published its final report. In the focus group, Demokrative presented experiences in the Demogames and Building Blocks of Democracy projects. In the report, Demokrative describes in detail the experiences made in these projects with the 'Competences for a Democratic Culture'.

"NECE Focus Group on 'Competences for Democratic Culture'. Recommendations and Documentation" - [download PDF here].

With our work, we want to take care of our democracy, but also of democracy in general and everywhere. For once, we would like to draw your attention not to one of our own projects, but to the current crowdfunding campaign of the Adam Institute. The Adam Institute has been working in the field of education for democracy and peace in Israel for over thirty years. The Betzavta method developed by the Adam Institute resonates far beyond Israel and the region (link to 'The Betzavta Method' map) and is also a frequent source of inspiration and motivation for us and our work.

The year 2020 was a challenging year for all of us. It is particularly challenging for democracy and for our being together. Democracy education is more important than ever, but also more difficult than it has been for a long time. Because financial difficulties elsewhere often get severe more quickly than in Switzerland, we would like to recommend to you the Adam Institute's crowdfunding campaign:

More information about the Adam Institute for Democracy & Peace: http://www.adaminstitute.org.il

Become part of the crowdfunding-campaign "We care about Democracy": https://www.charidy.com/cmp/adam

The development of educational games on the topic of democracies within the framework of Demogames is in full swing! Although partly different than planned: in particular, the international youth exchange planned for 2020 had to be postponed and the first game tests could only be carried out at local meetings.

But: we met with our international cooperation partners more often than planned, simply online. A series of six meetings in December was particularly productive. At each meeting, a development team presented its own game and discussed it with representatives of all partner organisations.

Demokrative coordinates the development of analogue games in the framework of Demgames, and is particularly involved in the development of the games Participedia, Insel Utopia, and Demodice. An overview of the games in development will follow here in the new year - keep posted!

Photo: screenshot of the video conference on the game Island Utopia.

On 24.09.2020 another meeting of the NECE focus group took place. It has existed since the beginning of 2019 and Demokrative is actively participating. The focus group reflects the implementation of the Council of Europe's Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) in various countries and projects and draws up recommendations. Together with experts and practitioners from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy, Demokrative co-founder Rebecca Welge is a member of the focus group.

The RFCDC provides a reference framework for civic and democratic education that describes competences for a democratic culture and offers guidance on how to promote these competences at different levels from the classroom to curriculum design.

In its work, the Demokrative repeatedly refers to the RFCDC. In the focus group, we have put up for discussion the experiences gained in the projects Building blocks of democracy and Demogames. In the Building Blocks project we use the indicators of the RFCDC for project evaluation. In the Demogames project, the RFCDC forms a central basis for the development of educational games and the definition of learning goals.

At the meeting in September, the focus group developed recommendations for various actors in school and out-of-school educational work and educational policy. It became clear that in various countries it was a challenge to reconcile the work with the RFCDC with the respective curricula and political culture. This coincides with our experience in the Swiss context. A detailed report on the experiences and recommendations of the focus group will follow at the end of the year. We will inform you here.

Demokrative is involved in international exchange in the focus group and beyond and maintains a network of national and international experts. The experience gained from such exchange is constantly integrated into the further development of our work and our projects.